The Shinty Preview – Saturday 24 July 2010. | |
23 July 2010 The Artemis Macaulay Cup semi finals take place on Saturday 24 July 2010. The North side of the Artemis Macaulay Cup sees Kingussie and Fort William clash at the Bught Park. Kingussie will still be without the injured Louis Munro and Ally MacLeod is still a week or so away from a return following a hand injury. Fraser Munro is also unavailable as he is on holiday. Fort William will be keen to avoid another semi final defeat after losing out to Kilmallie in the last four of the MacTavish Cup. Some slack defending from the An Aird side saw them go 3-1 behind to Oban Camanachd last weekend before they eventually ran out 5-3 winners. They will need to cut out any such errors against a potent Kingussie attack. With the exception of long term casualty Duncan Rodger, manager Peter MacIntyre has a full squad to pick from. Fort William thumped Kingussie 6-0 when the sides met earlier in the season although Stevie Borthwick’s side has shown great improvement since then. Inveraray and Bute meet at Mossfield to decide the South representatives in the final. The sides drew 2-2 at Rothesay in May. Robert Walker put Bute ahead on 20 minutes but goals from Garry MacPherson on the half hour mark and Grant Griffin a couple of minutes before the break put Inveraray ahead. However Roberto Zavaroni followed up his hat-trick the previous week with the equaliser on 76 minutes. Unfortunately for Bute, Roberto Zavaroni is serving the second game of a 2 match ban after receiving a red card against Lovat a fortnight ago. Scottish Hydro Premier Division 1 leaders Newtonmore return to the scene of their Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup defeat for the last 2 seasons when they face Kyles Athletic at Tighnabruaich. Norman MacArthur will be glad to have Danny MacRae back in the line-up and he and his other forwards were in ruthless form against Glasgow Mid Argyll last weekend. Kyles are now missing Donald Irvine who is working abroad but Roddy MacDonald is proving prolific since his switch to attack. Bottom side Glasgow Mid Argyll welcome Lovat to Yoker. Mid Argyll suffered a heavy defeat to Newtonmore last weekend and it will be interesting to see how they respond. Lovat have Fraser Gallagher back from suspension and Greg Matheson will also likely be back in their line-up. Full back Martin Bell should also return from honeymoon. Glenurquhart and Oban Camanachd meet in a 12.30pm throw up at Blairbeg. Glenurquhart were boosted by Lewis MacLennan’s return last weekend. Oban Camanachd will be without the suspended David MacInnes. The outcome of this one could be crucial to both side’s chances of survival in shinty’s top flight. Balliemore Cup winners Kinlochshiel lead Marine Harvest North Division 1 and they play Caberfeidh at Kirkton. Shiel’s Zander Grant and Steven Callander picked up face injuries last weekend but both should be fit to play. However buckshee back John Don MacKenzie is suspended as he starts a 2 match ban. There is a 12 noon throw up at Spean Bridge between Lochaber and Inverness. Inverness had a terrific result against Skye Camanachd last weekend and manager Stevie Munro is likely to keep faith with his young attack. Lochaber will run a check on wing back Danny Delaney who came off in the Balliemore Cup final with what seemed like a tight hamstring. Skye Camanachd welcome second place Beauly to Pairc nan Laoch, Portree. The Islanders have only won one of their last six matches and another defeat would see their title chances evaporate with only half the season played. Somhairle MacDonald is still missing and AB Connor is also unavailable. Glenorchy will win Marine Harvest South Division 1 if they take a point from their home match with Oban Celtic. Glenorchy won 2-0 when the sides met in April but that only tells part of the story. Glenorchy had James Livingston to thank as his double gave them victory in a fiery encounter in Oban. The win was over-shadowed by 4 second half sendings off. Oban Celtic’s John Hill was first for an early bath after 51 minutes. This was followed by an incident in the 61 minute which resulted in referee Robert Baxter Jnr sending off Celtic’s Angus John MacNeil and Glenorchy pair John Sartain and Grant MacPherson. Fourth place Lochside Rovers host third place Taynuilt. A Duncan Gillies strike on 21 minutes gave newly promoted Taynuilt the lead when the sides met earlier in the season. However David Devine restored parity a minute later and a Lewis Cameron goal on 55 minutes meant the points went to the Oban side. Bottom side Inveraray and Kilmory have a derby match at the Winterton. There was to be a midweek match in Marine Harvest North Division 2 as Newtonmore and Lovat were fixtured to meet at the Eilan but the game was postponed because of the heavy rain. Fourth place Fort William and fifth place Kingussie meet at An Aird on Friday 23 July 2010. The Fort are missing the presence of the injured Daniel Stewart up front whilst Kingussie’s team selection will be affected by the players available for their first team squad. There is a local derby at Braeview Park as Beauly and Lovat clash. Visitors Lovat are in both cup finals and their attention will now turn to picking up league points. Skye Camanachd head for Canal Parks to play a Kilmallie side which has had team raising difficulties in recent weeks. The Islanders’ keeper Michael Nicolson is unavailable so former Skye first keeper John MacLeod will deputise. Second place Newtonmore and third place Glenurquhart do battle at the Eilan. The Glen won 7-1 when the sides met at Blairbeg in early June. Veteran Stuart Morrison and youngster Kelvin MacKenzie each scored hat-tricks for the Glen that day whilst U14 player Ewan Brady got the other. Full forward David Wilde scored a consolation goal for Newtonmore. Glasgow Mid Argyll will be on a high after reaching the Bullough Cup Final last weekend and they travel to Perth to play Tayforth in Marine Harvest South Division 2. Mid Argyll were 2-1 winners when the sides met in April. Aberdour have the chance to leap-frog third place Strachur when they travel to Rothesay to play bottom side Bute. The match of the day in Marine Harvest North Division 3 is at Spean Bridge where second place Lochaber play leaders Aberdeen University. The Students hold a 6 point lead over their rivals but Lochaber have 3 games in hand. The sides have yet to meet in the league this season and the outcome of these clashes will be crucial to the final destination of the title. Third place Caberfeidh were to host Lochcarron at Castle Leod but the points will go to the home side as Lochcarron are unable to raise a team. Boleskine and Lochbroom meet at Farr. The visitors have only lost to Aberdeen University (twice) and Caberfeidh this season and they were 2-1 winners when the sides met in May. |